Hottest Women Actress: Anne Hathaway

Anne Hathaway Biography

Date of Birth

12 November 1982, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Birth Name

Anne Jacqueline Hathaway

Nickname

Annie

Height

5' 8" (1.73 m)

Mini Biography

Anne Jacqueline Hathaway (born November 12, 1982) is an American actress. After several stage roles, she appeared in the 1999 television series Get Real. She played Mia Thermopolis in The Princess Diaries (2001). Over the next three years, Hathaway reprised that role for The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, and starred in family films, appearing as the title character in Ella Enchanted, both in 2004. Hathaway is also an Emmy winning actress for her voice-over performance in The Simpsons.

Hathaway had dramatic roles in Havoc and Brokeback Mountain, both in 2005. She starred in The Devil Wears Prada (2006) and in Becoming Jane (2007) as Jane Austen. In 2008, she was acclaimed for her lead role in Rachel Getting Married, for which she won awards and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. In 2010, she starred in the box office hits Valentine's Day and Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland, as well as Love and Other Drugs. In 2011, she had a voice role in the animated film Rio and starred in Lone Scherfig's adaptation of One Day. She is scheduled to play Selina Kyle (Catwoman) in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises.

People magazine named her one of its breakthrough stars of 2001, and she first appeared on its list of the world's 50 Most Beautiful People in 2006.

Early life

Hathaway was born in Brooklyn, New York. Her father, Gerald Thomas Hathaway, is a lawyer, and her mother, Kathleen Ann (née McCauley), is an actress who inspired Hathaway to follow in her footsteps. The family moved to Millburn, New Jersey, when she was six years old. Hathaway has an older brother, Michael, and a younger brother, Thomas. She is of mostly Irish and French ancestry, with distant Native American and German roots.

Hathaway was raised Catholic with what she considered "really strong values," and has stated she wanted to be a nun during her childhood. However, she decided against it at the age of 15, after learning her brother, Michael, was gay; she felt she could not be part of a religion that condemned her brother's sexual orientation. In 2009, Hathaway described herself as a non-denominational Christian because she had not "found the religion" for her, and later stated that her religious beliefs are "a work in progress."

As a preschooler, Hathaway attended Brooklyn Heights Montessori School. She entered first grade at the Wyoming Elementary School in Millburn while she was technically still a kindergartner. Hathaway graduated from Millburn High School, where she participated in many school plays; her high school performance as Winnifred in Once Upon a Mattress garnered her a Paper Mill Playhouse Rising Star Award nomination for Best Performance by a High School Actress. During this time, Hathaway was in plays including Jane Eyre and Gigi at New Jersey's Paper Mill Playhouse (which is located in Millburn, across the street from Hathaway's middle school). She spent several semesters studying as an English major and Women's Studies minor at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York before transferring to New York University's Gallatin School of Individualized Study, referring to her college enrollment as one of her best decisions, because she enjoyed being with others who were trying to "grow up." Hathaway was the first teenager admitted into The Barrow Group Theater Company's acting program.

A soprano, Hathaway performed in 1998 and 1999 with the All-Eastern U.S. High School Honors Chorus at Carnegie Hall and has performed in plays at Seton Hall Preparatory School in West Orange, New Jersey. Three days after her 1999 performance at Carnegie Hall, she was cast in the short-lived Fox television series Get Real at the age of 16.

Hathaway is a trained stage actress and has stated that she prefers performing on stage to film roles. Her acting style has been compared to those of Judy Garland and Audrey Hepburn. She cites Garland as one of her favorite actresses and Meryl Streep as her idol.

Career

2001–2004: Career development

Hathaway's first role in a motion picture was opposite Christopher Gorham in Walt Disney's drama film The Other Side of Heaven (2001), inspired by John H. Groberg's memoirs In the Eye of the Storm. Before production of the film, she was cast alongside Julie Andrews in the lead role of Mia Thermopolis in another Disney production, the comedy film The Princess Diaries, based on Meg Cabot's 2000 novel of the same name. Directed by Garry Marshall, Hathaway auditioned for the role of a princess-to-be during a flight layover on the way to New Zealand and garnered the role after only one audition. She won the role over 500 other girls. Released prior to The Other Side of Heaven in hopes that its success would increase interest in Heaven, The Princess Diaries became a major commercial success, grossing US$165 million worldwide. Many critics praised Hathaway's performance, with a BBC critic noting that "Hathaway shines in the title role and generates great chemistry." Also released in 2001, The Other Side of Heaven, directed by Mitch Davis, met with mostly negative reviews, but it performed well for a religion-themed film.

In February 2002, Hathaway starred in the City Center Encores! concert production of Carnival! in her New York City stage debut, receiving positive reviews for her portrayal of Lili. Also in 2002, Hathaway began voicing the audio book releases of The Princess Diaries and has since voiced the first three books of the series. She also provided the voice of the character Haru in the English version of Hiroyuki Morita's The Cat Returns.

Hathaway continued to appear in family-oriented films over the next three years, subsequently becoming known in mainstream media as a children's role model. In 2002, she appeared in Douglas McGrath's comedy-drama Nicholas Nickleby, opposite Charlie Hunnam and Jamie Bell, which opened to positive reviews. The Deseret News said that the cast was "Oscar-worthy". Despite critical acclaim, the film never entered wide release and failed at the North American box office, totaling less than $4 million in ticket sales. Hathaway's next film role was as the titular character in the rom-com fantasy film Ella Enchanted (2004), a loose adaption of Gail Carson Levine's 1997 novel of the same name, which opened to mostly indifferent reviews. Hathaway sang two songs in the film as well as three on the soundtrack, including a duet with singer Jesse McCartney.

In 2003, Hathaway dropped out of her role in Joel Schumacher's The Phantom of the Opera (2004), because the production schedule of the film overlapped with The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, which she was contractually obligated to make. Disney began production on The Princess Diaries 2 in early 2004, and it was released in August of that year. The film opened to negative reviews, but made $95.1 million against a $40 million budget.

2005–2007: Career transition

Hathaway began appearing in dramatic roles after The Princess Diaries 2. She said that "anybody who was a role model for children needs a reprieve", although she noted that "it's lovely to think that my audience is growing up with me". She voiced Red Puckett in the animated comedy Hoodwinked! (2005), based on the Little Red Riding Hood folktale, which received mixed reviews by critics. That same year, Hathaway starred in Barbara Kopple's drama film Havoc, in which she played a spoiled socialite, appearing nude in some of its scenes. Although the content of the film was different from her previous films, Hathaway denied that her role was an attempt to be seen as a more mature actress, citing her belief that doing nudity in certain movies is merely a part of what her chosen form of art demands of her; and because of that belief she does not consider appearing nude in appropriate films to be morally objectionable.

After Havoc, Hathaway was cast alongside Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal in Ang Lee's drama Brokeback Mountain (2005). While Havoc was not released in theaters in the United States because of its weak critical reception, Brokeback Mountain won rave reviews for its depiction of a homosexual relationship in the 1960s and received several Academy Award nominations. Hathaway would later assert that the content of Brokeback Mountain was more important than its award count and that making the film made her more aware of the kind of stories she wanted to tell as an actress.

In 2006, Hathaway appeared in David Frankel's comedy The Devil Wears Prada, in which she starred as an assistant to a powerful fashion magazine editor portrayed by Meryl Streep, whom Hathaway described as being "just divine". Hathaway said that working on the film made her respect the fashion industry a great deal more than she had previously, though she claimed that her personal style is something she "still can't get right". In an interview with Us Weekly, Hathaway discussed the weight loss regime she and co-star Emily Blunt followed for the film, she stated, "I basically stuck with fruit, vegetables and fish [to slim down]. I wouldn't recommend that. Emily Blunt and I would clutch at each other and cry because we were so hungry."

Hathaway was cast in the 2007 comedy Knocked Up, but dropped out before filming began and was replaced by Katherine Heigl. Writer/director Judd Apatow stated in a May 2007 issue of The New York Times Magazine that Hathaway dropped out "because she didn't want to allow us to use real footage of a woman giving birth to create the illusion that she is giving birth". In an August 2008 interview with Marie Claire, Hathaway commented that she "didn't believe that it was necessary to the story".

Hathaway was in the 2007 drama Becoming Jane, in which she portrayed English writer Jane Austen. Tim Burton considered Hathaway for the part of Johanna Barker in his 2007 film Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, but the role went to Jayne Wisener, a then-unknown actress, reportedly because Burton decided he wanted an unknown, younger actress for the part.

2008–present

In January 2008, Hathaway joined beauty giant Lancôme as the face of their fragrance Magnifique, and in October of that year, Hathaway hosted the NBC late-night sketch comedy Saturday Night Live. Her first film of the year was a modern adaptation of the 1960s Mel Brooks television series Get Smart, in which she starred opposite Steve Carell, and Alan Arkin, portraying Agent 99. Directed by Peter Segal, the film was a hit at the box office, prompting talk of a sequel. She also made a cameo appearance in the corresponding film Get Smart's Bruce and Lloyd: Out of Control. Also in 2008, she premiered the drama Passengers, alongside Patrick Wilson, as well as the drama Rachel Getting Married, opposite Debra Winger. Rachel Getting Married premiered at the 2008 Venice and Toronto Film Festival and garnered her widespread critical acclaim for her performance as Kym, including nominations for both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe. Hathaway stated that the film appealed to her because of its real depiction of relationships and because of the strong emotional connection she felt with her character.

Hathaway appeared in the comedy Bride Wars, released in 2009, which she described as being "hideously commercial – gloriously so." In addition to providing her voice for episodes of The Simpsons, which garnered her an Emmy Award in 2010 for outstanding voice-over performance, and Family Guy in 2010, Hathaway also appeared as Viola in the New York Shakespeare Festival's summer 2009 production of Twelfth Night at the Delacorte Theater in New York City's Central Park, opposite Audra McDonald as Olivia, Raul Esparza as Duke Orsino, and Julie White as Maria.

Hathaway's 2010 film projects include a Tim Burton-directed adaptation of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass alongside Helena Bonham Carter and Johnny Depp, the romantic comedy The Fiancé, an adaptation of the Julie Buxbaum novel The Opposite of Love, the Garry Marshall-directed ensemble comedy Valentine's Day, and an adaptation of Gerald Clarke's biography Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland, in which she will play the title role on the stage and screen. It was reported on December 8, 2009 that Hathaway was up for the role of Felicia Hardy in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 4. Hardy would not have transformed into the Black Cat, as in the comics; instead, Raimi's Felicia was expected to become a brand-new superpowered figure called the Vulturess. On January 5, 2010, it was reported that Spider-Man 4 would be rewritten and Hathaway would not appear in the film, as she was "too expensive". On November 29, 2010, it was announced that Hathaway and James Franco would host the 83rd Academy Awards.

Together with actor Denzel Washington, Hathaway hosted the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway on December 11, 2010.

In 2010, she was named one of the sexiest stars of 2010 by Entertainment Weekly.

In January 2011, it was announced she had landed the role of Selina Kyle (Catwoman) in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises. That year, she also voiced the character Jewel in the animated film Rio, from 20th Century Fox and Blue Sky Studios, alongside Jesse Eisenberg and starred in the romance One Day.

Personal life

Hathaway is involved with charities, including The Creative Coalition, The Step Up Women's Network, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, The Human Rights Campaign, and The Lollipop Theatre Network, an organization that screens films to critically ill children. In 2008, she was honored at Elle magazine's "Women in Hollywood" tribute, and has also been honored for her work with Step Up Women's Network. and the Human Rights Campaign. In early 2007, Hathaway spoke of her experiences with depression during her teenage years, saying that she eventually overcame the disorder without medication.

In 2008, on Late Show with David Letterman, Hathaway said she had once again stopped smoking. The actress, who had begun smoking "heavily" while filming Rachel Getting Married, had "quit for a while", but had started again in the wake of her stressful summer and the end of her relationship with Raffaello Follieri. She credited quitting smoking for the subsequent decline in her stress level, and declared her return to being vegetarian.

In regard to personal strife and subsequent media attention, Hathaway uses a mantra that quotes Oscar Wilde: "The less said about life's sores the better."

Relationship with Raffaello Follieri

In 2004, Hathaway began a relationship with Italian real estate developer Raffaello Follieri. During their relationship, Hathaway took part in the development of the charitable Follieri Foundation, serving as a financial donor as well as a member of the foundation's board of directors until 2007. A Manhattan-based charity founded in 2003 focusing on programs such as providing vaccinations for children in Third World nations, the organization had come under investigation in June 2008 by the IRS, for failing to file the tax papers required from non-profit organizations. Citing the fear that this and other ongoing legal issues involving Follieri would become detrimental to her acting career, Hathaway ended her relationship with him in mid-June 2008.

Follieri was arrested in June 2008 on fraud charges for allegedly fleecing investors out of millions of dollars in a scheme in which Follieri posed as the Vatican's point man on real estate investing. It was reported that the FBI confiscated Hathaway's private journals from Follieri's New York City apartment as part of their ongoing investigation into Follieri's activities; however, Hathaway was not charged with any crime. On October 23, 2008, after earlier pleading guilty, Follieri was sentenced to four and a half years in prison.

In the October 2008 issue of W Magazine, Hathaway spoke for the first time of the break-up and Follieri's subsequent arrest. She related that she "spent a week in shock" after Follieri's arrest, and credited the kindness of friends for her ability to keep working during such difficult times. That same month, during her turn as host of Saturday Night Live, Hathaway joked about the experience in her opening monologue.

Anne Hathaway